Vegetable-cutter.



Patented Oct. 22, I90I. N. BosMANN. VEGETABLE CUTTER.

(Application filed Nov. 1, 1900.) (No Model.) 2 Sheets-She'et I.

cw @ZM www Patented Oct. 22, I90I.

N. BSMANN.

VEGETABLE CUTTER.

(Application filed Nov. 1, 1900.) Y

2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

(No Model.)

NiTnD STATES Prion.

PATENT NICOLAS BOSMANN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO JEREMIAII B. OCONNELL AND EDWARD S'. SLOCUM, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

VEG ETABLE-CUTTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 684,975, dated October 22, 1901.

Application tiled November l, 1900. Serial No. 355079. (N0 modell) To tl/ whom it may concerm Be it known that I, NICOLAS BosMANN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Vegetable-Cutters, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part thereof.

The purpose of this invention is to provide an improved device for domestic uses,adapted for grating'aud also for slicing vegetables and other material for culinary purposes.

Itconsists of features of construction which are specified in the claims.

In the drawings, Figure l is a plan of my improved vegetable-cutter. Fig. 2 is an axial section of the same. Fig. 3 is a section at the line 3 3 on Fig. 2. Fig. tis an elevation of one form of grating-disk which I employ. Fig. 5 is an elevation of a slightly-modified form. Fig. 6 is an enlarged detail section at the line -6 6 on Fig. 4C. Fig. 7 is an enlarged detail section at the line 7 7 on Fig. 5. Fig. 8 is an outer face elevation of a slicing-cutter which I employ. Fig. 9 is an inner face elevation of the slicing-cutter. Fig. 10 is a detail section at the line lO 10 on Fig. 8.

A is a cylindrical vegetable-chamber provided with suitable feet or standards A', by which it may be secured or supported.y It is open at both ends, and at the ends it has at a little distance fromthe opening horizontal cross-bars A2 A2, intended to afford journalbearings for a shaft B, which extends axially through the cylinder and is journaled in the cross-bars A2 A2 at the opposite ends.

C is a grating-disk, preferably made of sheet metal, as snown and hereinafter described.

C is a spider or frame on which such disk is supported, having a hub C10, at which it may be secured to the shaft. The disk C is of suitable diameter to be applied outside the open end of the cylinder and to close the same, not being adapted to enter within the chamber, and the length of the hub C10 of the spider is such as to adapt it to Iit quite snugly between the cross-bar A2 at either end of the cylinder and the face of the open end of the latter. The shaft B is threaded throughout its entire length within the cylinL der-that is, back of the point at which it enters the hub C10 of the spider C'.

D is a disk designed to operateA as a f'ollowerin the cylinder. Its hub is divided, one half of the hub, D', being rigid with the fol# lower, and the other half, D10, being hinged thereto and adapted to close up with the half D" upon the threaded portion of the shaft, the hub being interiorly threaded in both halves to operate as a nut upon the threaded shaft. The cylinder is provided with three longitudinal splines or ribs or feathers a', ct', and a2, the spline a2 being at the bottom and the splines a d being equidistant therefrom in opposite directions about one hundred and twenty degrees apart. lower-disk D has at the lower side a notch d, adapted to engage the. spline a2, and at proper points to engage the splines a d has notches d d', which, however, are formed practically as mere shoulders, engaging under the spline, the material being cut away upwardly at lines parallel to the diameter through the notch d. The purpose of this arrangement of the notches and splines is to permit the introduction of the follower under the cross-bar A2, it being then brought into position by turning it up within the cylinder, the lower notch engaging the spline d2, while the shoulders forming the lower boundaries of the upper notches come up against the sides of the splines a c'. D2 is a latch upon the follower, adapted to lock the hinged half of the hub or nut in position, closing the nut about the shaft. The cylinder A has ahandhole or filling and emptying aperture c2 at the upper side, closed by a slide d". The spider C is pinned to the shaft by a cotter-pin c,

thereby being made rotatable with the shaft,

inder, but not until after the follower has been introduced in the manner described and The edge of the folbrought up to proper position across the cham'- ber. The shaft may then be passed on through the follower and int-o the bearing of the 0pposite cross-bar A2, and the divided hub or nut of the follower may be then closed up and secured by the latch and the grating-disk secured to the shaft by the Cotter-pin inserted through the hub of the spider C' of said disk. The material to be operated upon may now be introduced through the hand-hole a3. In any case in which the vegetables to he operated upon are in too large pieces to be introduced through the hand-hole they may be introduced through the end opposite that at which the grating-disk stands or may be put iuto the cylinder before either end is closed, provided it can be apertured to admit the shaft.

I have shown two forms of grating-disk, both involving one feature in com mon, which I will now describe. In the form shown in Figs. Lt and 6 the disk is made of sheet metal, which is perforated with a multiplicity of apertures c2 c2, the., the margin of each of the apertures at one side being struck 4up from one surface of the disk to lift up the edge of the aperture out of the plane of such surface into position to adapt such edge to serve as a cutting edge in the grating process. This forms a channel on the inner side of the disk leading from each aperture back from the cutting edge thus struck up. The peculiarity of my disk in respect to the cutting feature is that these channels or grooves are not tangential with respect to the path of rotation of the aperture from which they lead or of the cutting edge struck up at such aperture, but, on the contrary, they trend obliquely outward away from the axis of rotation, and the cutting edge thus struck up is thus caused to stand not radial to the axis of rotation, but slightly oblique with respect thereto, so that it acts with a more shearing action than if it stood radial. The combined action of the shearing edge and the obliquely-trending channel or furrow leading back thereof will cause the material cut out by the rotation of the disk at each of these struck-up edges to be conducted a little out from the path in which the edge which cuts travels. This prevents the clogging of the device, causing all the material cut to be discharged freely, and also causing the entire surface of the material presented to theinnerorcutting faceof the disk to be reached and cut away instead of being merely cut in concen tric grooves, leaving material standing between them, which would prevent the further advance of the entire body against the grating-surfaee.` A modifi* cation of this disk still retaining the feature above described is shown in Figs. 5 and '7. In this form the disk is apertured by the formation of slits through it made without cutting away, however, or removing any material, but merely severing the metal and striking up the same at the opposite sides of the slits in opposite directions-that is, off or from the opposite surfaces of the sheet metal-so Gemert that the edge thus struck' up may constitute a cutting edge and the disk may be used either side out, the two sides being adapted to operate precisely alike upon the material. Besides the fact that the plate is made reversible by this means the discharge-channel for the material cut away as the plate revolves is made without cutting out any material from the plate,the outwardly-struck edge forming such channel, while the inwardly-struck edge forms the cutting edge. In this form,as above stated, the same feature as to Obliquity of the cutting edge and of the discharge-channel is preserved, as seen by reference to Fig. 5.

In order to adapt this vegetable-cutter to be used not only for grating but also for slieing vegetables, I provide au additional head F, which may be put either in the opposite end or in the place of the grating-disk C, being secured to the shaft in the same manner and lodged in place between the end of the cylinder and the cross-bar in the same manner as the grating-disk. This disk has two approximately radial apertures or slots F F', and set in one edge of each slot is a slicing-knife F2 F2, projecting inwardly from the face of the disk F, being adjustable to vary the thickness of the slice which can be cut. The slots F F necessarily extend entirely through to the central aperture at which the shaft is inserted, and the discharge-spout consequently cuts through the hub of the disk, as seen in Fig. lO. This prevents leaving at the center any uncut portion which would prevent the advance of the material under pressure of the follower. When it is desired not only `to slice but to subdivide the slices into small pieces, I mount in the disk F the cutters Fg F3, dac., which project from the inner face in lines substantially parallel with the axis at different distances from the center, so that as the disk revolves these knives tend to cut concentric circles in the material presented and forced against the disk by the follower. Then when the slicingknives FLa F'f2 operate, and thus eut olf the slice which has been cut in concentric circles, the material is found subdivided as desired. Of course if the material in the cylinder and subjected to the operation of this slicer were integral it would be delivered in helical coils instead of subdivided into small pieces; but it will be understood that vegetables or fruit put into the cylinder do not constitute an integral mass therein. For convenience in attaching and removing the cutters F3 F3, I mount them upon two plates F30 F30, from which they project and are adapted to enter apertures provided for them in the disk F, the plates F30 F30 being arranged to be secu red `on the outside of the disk F by screws f30, so

that they can be readily applied and removed at will. When the slicing-disk is placed at the opposite end of the cylinder from the grating-disk, both disks may be connected with the cylinder and with the shaft at the same time, and the material to be operated IOO IIO

upon will be introduced between the follower and the disk or cutter whose particular style of action is desired, being put upon one side in order to be grated and upon the other side in order to be sliced, the shaft being rotated in opposite directions for the two purposes, respectively, and provided at both ends with suitable form to receive the crank-handle by which it is operated. When this mode of use is preferred, a circular disk G is placed in the cylinder on the shaft at the side of the follower toward which the hub projects, and being loose on the shaft and guided by the splines a a a2 in the same manner as the follower-disk it becomes practically a duplicate disk or face of the follower, cominginto action when the follower is advanced in one direction, while the main face of the follower is in action when it is advanced in the other direction. Of course the only purpose of this disk is to make it possible to feed out all of the material on that side ofthe follower which would otherwise be partially prevented by the hub, which would limit the approach of the follower to the grater or slicing-disk. Since it is desirable that any juice which may be forced out of the vegetables during the process of slicing or grating may drain out in the same direction as the material is designed to be discharged through the grater or slicer, I provide for setting the cylinder slightly inclined downward toward the discharge end, whichever end is being used as the discharge endthat is, whether the grating-disk or slicing disk is being employed. For this purpose I mount the device on a board H, which is pivoted to a second board II', the latter being longitudinally wedge-shaped or tapered in thickness. By reversing the bottom board about the pivotbolt the inclination of the cylinder will be reversed, so that it may drain in either direction according to the direction in which the material is being discharged from it.

It is obviously desirable that the operating movement of the rotary grater or slicer shall be produced by a right-handed movement of the operating-crank. It is also desirable that the crank shall be at the end opposite the discharge, so that the receptacle may not be liable to interfere with the operation of the crank. -To accomplish these two results, the thread on the shaft must be a left-handed thread, since it must drive'the follower away from the end of the shaft. Also, the knives of the slicer and the grating or cutting edges of the apertures of the grating-disk must face in a direction which may be termed lefthanded and be in left-handed relation with the apertures through which the material sliced or grated off passes through the diskthat is, in a relation corresponding to the left-handed screw-to wit., one which shall cause the material to be fed through the disk in the same direction as the left-handed screw drives the follower to force it toward the disk. Such left handed construction is clearly cross-bar, and to close'such open end of the cylinder; a shaft which extends through the disk and is journaled in the cross-bar, and is threaded throughout its extent through the cylindrical chamber; and a follower within the chamber, engaged by the thread of the shaft, and having its rotation checked by the chamber-wall; and means for rotating the shaft outside the chamber-Wall.

2. In a vegetable-cutter, a cylindrical chamber open at both ends, and having at each end a cross-bar at a little distance from the end of the chamber, outside the same; a rotatable cutting-disk adapted to-be inserted between one open end of the cylinder and the crossbar at that end, and to be stopped against movement in both directions by said crossbar and the end of the cylinder; a follower adapted to be inserted between the opposite end of the cylinder and the cross-bar at that end 5 a shaft journaled in the two cross-bars, having the eutting-disk operatively connected to it so as to be operated by it; such shaft being threaded throughout its extent within the cylinder, the follower being threaded at the center to be engaged by the shaft; and means preventing the rotation of the follower with respect to the cylinder.

3. In a vegetable-cutter, the cylindrical chamber, A, having the longitudinal feathers, et', ct', a2; the follower, adapted to be introduced edgewise into the cylinder at one side of the cross-bar, and having notches, CZ', d', d, corresponding to the feathers of the chamber; the notches d and d at opposite sides having their sides cut away at lines parallel with the diameter extending through the third notch from the bottoms of said notches d and CZ' to the circumference in the direction away from said third notch.

4. A vegetable-cutter, comprising a cylinder having a lateral inlet and having at the opposite ends dierent forms of cuttingdisks; a shaft extended axially through the cylinder and operatively connected to the disks to rotate the same; a follower in the cylinder, between the disks, interiorly threaded at the center to be engaged by the shaft; and means outside the cylinder for rotating the shaft in either direction at will. p

5. A vegetabledcutter comprising a cylinder having at the opposite ends different forms of rotary cutting-disks; a threaded shaft extended axially through the cylinder and operatively connected to the disks to rotate the same; a follower in the cylinder between the cutting-disks, having a centrally apertured hub threaded to be engaged by the IOO IIO

IZO

outside the cylinder.

6. A vegetable-cutter, comprising a cylindrical chamber having at the opposite endsv different forms of rotary cuttingdisks; a threaded shaft extended through the cylinder, operatively connected to the cuttingdisks to rotate them; a follower within the cylinder', between the disks, having a hub constituting a divided nut, threaded to be engaged by the two parts of such device, and

provided with a latch by which they may be locked together about the threaded shaft; 15

my hand, in the presence of two witnesses, at zo Chicago, Illinois, this 20th day of October, A. D. 1900.

NICOLAS BOSMANN. In presence of CHAs. S. BURTON, EDGAR L. CoNAN'r. 

